HEPATIC HISTOPATHOLOGY OF WINTER FLOUNDER FROM BOSTON HARBOR 
by 
Dr. Robert Murchelano 
National Marine Fisheries Service 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
Department of Commerce 
Woods Hole, MA 
I was planning on sitting in the audience today until Betsy (Dr. Betsy Brown) 
found out that I was attending this seminar. 
I would like to show you representative hepatic lesions of winter flounder from 
Boston Harbor. I have told colleagues at the Weymouth Fish Disease Laboratory in 
England that I initiated this study to test a hypothesis. The hypothesis was that the 
dumping of tea, as practiced by the colonists and as instigated by my colleagues' 
ancestors, compromised fish health in Boston Harbor. I may have to accept this 
hypothesis, so bear in mind that tea is still one of the possible causes of these lesions. 
Actually, the hypothesis that I wanted to test (I am grateful that Leigh, Mr. 
Leigh Bridges didn't lead into it in his presentation) was whether one disease which is 
associated with poor environmental quality, possibly predicts the presence of another in 
another tissue. That one disease is fin rot. 
Fin rot is a disease of winter flounder that I have studied for many years. 
Even though Carl (Dr. Carl Sindermann) is here, I am going to say that it was under his 
"gentle prodding" in the early 1970s that I became intimately involved in studies of fin rot 
in the New York Bight. I was trying to find out what caused this elusive disease. I still do 
not know what causes it nor does anyone else. 
However, one thing did appear quite clear from our studies, to me at least, fin 
rot was a symptom of unfavorable environmental conditions. When I was asked by 
Harriett Diamond (Coastal Zone Management (CZM), Commonwealth of Massachusetts) to 
review some documents for the 301(h) waiver in Boston Harbor, specifically in the area of 
biological effects, I saw tabular data which revealed that approximately 46 to 47 percent 
of winter flounder from the Deer Island area of the Harbor had fin rot. 
This finding signified that perhaps other aspects of the animals' health were 
compromised. Therefore, and as Leigh mentioned, in April 1984 after a joint meeting in 
Boston with staff of CZM and the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), I was sent 100 jars 
containing formalin-fixed livers of Boston Harbor winter flounder (collected by DMF 
staff). I did not see the fish, only their livers as fixed tissues in jars of formaldehyde. I 
did not know where the fish came from in the Harbor or if, in fact, they came from the 
Harbor. Boston Harbor is a large area, and all areas of the Harbor are not the same. I 
would like to show you some pictures and photomicrographs today and will begin with the 
disease which led to the finding of the Boston Harbor winter flounder liver tumors. 
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